Banter 98: 03Dec25 Water, with Katie Clubb from Forest of Dean
Katie covers many water topics: retention, slowing (for flood retention or mitigation), purity, wetlands, beavers, as well as insights into previous projects and major Blue Earth meeting
Video Timeline: (min:sec)
00:00 - 27:57 Presentation
27:57 - 46:42 (end) Q & A
Presentation:
No separate slide presentation this week - Katie was all talk!!
Links:
Forest of Dean Climate Action Newsletter - previous editions, and how to join the mailing list
Water Literacy - Train to become Water Literate
Water Watch Collective: free webinar Tuesday 09Dec25 1-2pm - about co-designing citizen science and improving collaborative water quality monitoring
Our Earth Week: the voice clips about water to which Katie refers in her presentation
Please note that there are other links listed in the Chat section below
Meeting Summary:
Dec 03, 2025 11:51 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536
Quick recap
The meeting began with introductions and discussions about expected attendees, emphasizing the importance of participants renaming themselves on Zoom for identification purposes. Katie Clubb, who works in community climate action, shared insights from Our Earth Week, a global initiative focused on water conservation and climate action, highlighting various water-related projects and initiatives in the Forest of Dean. The group discussed water literacy training, restoration projects, and successful community engagement efforts, while also addressing concerns about non-biodegradable wet wipes and the need for public awareness to reduce environmental impact.
Next steps
Summary
River Stowe Water Testing Project
The meeting began with introductions and discussions about expected attendees, noting that while 11-12 people were initially expected, the number had grown to 15. Graham emphasized the importance of participants renaming themselves on Zoom for identification purposes. Jonathan introduced a project involving water testing on the River Stowe as part of the safe haven water testing activity on the Warwickshire Avon and its tributaries. The meeting was set to continue with further introductions and discussions, though some participants were still joining.
Our Earth Week: Water Conservation
Katie Clubb, who works in community climate action for the Forest of Dean District Council, shared insights from Our Earth Week, a global initiative focused on water conservation and climate action. She highlighted the effectiveness of the week-long event in spotlighting local projects and issues related to water, such as river health, flooding, and ocean life. Katie emphasized the importance of water as a unifying topic and shared her personal passion for water conservation, drawing from her previous experience in Japan. She also discussed the impact of inland communities on ocean health and the positive engagement of young people in climate action through activities like litter collection and art projects.
Water Conservation Advocacy Updates
Katie discussed her involvement in local water quality testing initiatives with the River Avon Bathers, highlighting a film and voice message that effectively used art for advocacy. She shared insights from Earth Week water conservation efforts with youth groups, including a workshop on saving and slowing water. Katie also noted that a major employer, Sentry, has implemented water conservation measures such as boreholes and an internal campaign called "Every Drop Counts." Additionally, she mentioned a council newsletter promoting rainwater harvesting in toilet blocks across three towns.
Water Management in Forest of Dean
Katie presented on various water-related initiatives and projects in the Forest of Dean, highlighting the importance of water management and climate adaptation. She discussed a citizen visioning project that identified water management as a key priority for residents, and shared examples of successful flood prevention and water conservation efforts. Katie also explained the benefits of beaver reintroduction projects for flood management and biodiversity, and provided tips for individuals to take action on water issues. The conversation ended with a discussion about water literacy courses and the potential for future water scarcity.
Water Projects and Community Engagement
The group discussed water literacy training organized by Groundwork East and partly funded by Northumberland Water. Katie explained the details of a system visioning project funded by Innovate UK through the Fast Followers program, which involved working with climate engagement specialists Involve and the Sortation Foundation to select a representative citizen's jury. The discussion also touched on the restoration of Norfolk's ponds, highlighting their biodiversity gains and potential for presentations.
Community Climate Action Strategies
Katie shared insights from a successful community engagement project in Coleford that involved paying participants for their time and expenses to ensure a representative sample, including those not typically involved in climate work. The project framed climate action through happiness and fairness, successfully engaging the community and leading to commitments from local councils to act on recommendations within three months. Sue and Jennifer raised concerns about non-biodegradable wet wipes, with Jennifer highlighting the significant cost to Thames Water for unclogging pipes and emphasizing the need for public awareness and water literacy to reduce environmental impact. The conversation ended with an announcement of a further discussion on rural flood resilience next week.
Chat:
00:26:07 Andrew Clegg, Martock, Somerset, River Parrett survey: Interesting that runoff contributes 80% of Wye pollution. What is the dominant soil type? In the upper Parrett runoff conributes very little - unless you classify legacy phosphate pollution as runoff. We are on deep clay
00:37:34 Peter Bates: What was the location of beavers?
00:38:00 Andrew Clegg, Martock, Somerset, River Parrett survey: Katie - can you put in the chat the details of where we can see your beavers
00:38:22 Julie Earp: Are we able to get a copy of your newsletter Katie?
00:38:57 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) | Engage Environment Agency
The WINEP map is a great resource for anyone interested in learning where water utilities will be focusing work - and looking for collaboration (with funding) to restore water quality and rivers. This link has a great tutorial on how to use it.
00:39:42 Sandra Reeve River Char: Can you say more about the Coleford citizen visioning initiative? would love to hear the voice clips
00:41:04 Sue Burton Battle TC: Wipes are never biodigradable/recylable because they are contaminated after use and should go into the waste stream.
00:41:26 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Who was the Water Literacy provider?
00:41:31 Jonathan Horsfield - Napton, Warwickshire: who runs the water literacy course please?
00:44:12 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Where is the new enclosure? The enclosure is just off the popular walking route of Spruce Ride and is near to the Colliers Trail. Winter is a great time to see them while the leaves are off the trees. Visitors can also see what habitat changes the beavers have made on the forest. Beavers in the Forest of Dean | Forestry England
00:45:19 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: The Water Literacy I did was organised by Groundwork East
00:46:53 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Restoring, resurrecting and conserving Norfolk's ponds. This is a great resource for restoring 'ghost ponds' which are showing to have impressive biodiversity gains including rare species which are preserved within the old pond sediment as 'ancient' seed banks. These have far quicker and more diverse biodiversity gains than creating new ponds. Maybe they could do a presentation?
00:46:56 Jonathan Horsfield - Napton, Warwickshire: Reacted to "Restoring, resurrect..." with 👍
00:47:11 Jonathan Horsfield - Napton, Warwickshire: Reacted to "The Water Literacy I..." with 👍
00:47:27 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Water Literacy | Train to Become Water Literate 00:47:33 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Reacted to "Water Literacy | Tra..." with 👍
00:47:40 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Will definitely ask them, Jennifer - thank you 00:48:23 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Reacted to "Will definitely ask ..." with 👍
00:49:50 Andrew Clegg, Martock, Somerset, River Parrett survey: Interesting. I have been doing a bit of work on the 7 ponds at Stourhead (NT garden). Very high P from the springs - undetectable by the seventh pond. These are sixteenth century ponds
00:53:05 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Replying to "Water Industry Natio..."
Linking the WINEP map to LNRS plans would be a great way of connecting key drivers for water quality, funding, and partners (including catchment partnerships) for catchment wide collaboration.
00:55:06 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Join the boycott of non-biodegradable wet wipes: Led by Thames 21 Plastic wet wipe ban by government is urgent - charity - BBC News 00:55:31 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: The plastic wet wipes issue, explained - Thames21
Audio-transcript (for AI indexing)
112 00:11:41.810 --> 00:11:47.249 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: So, if you'd like to go ahead, please, and there are other people who can catch up from the recording later if they want to.
113 00:11:47.250 --> 00:11:49.600 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Okie dokie. Sounds good, I'll kick off.
114 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:59.260 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So hello everyone, my name's Katie Club. I work in community climate action in the Climate Team at the Forrester Dean District Council.
115 00:11:59.270 --> 00:12:15.170 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And today I'm going to share some insights from participating in Our Earth Week, which is a global initiative run by the Community Radio Environment Network, and this year was between the 10th and the 15th of November, and the theme was all around water.
116 00:12:15.180 --> 00:12:24.040 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: There were 80 participating radio stations worldwide, spotlighting issues like river health, flooding, ocean life,
117 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:41.069 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And we heard from loads of local voices, from campaigners to youth groups, who all joined the conversation on conservation and climate action, and I'm going to talk about why this proved to be a really effective method of communication, and just talk about some of the projects that were involved in that week.
118 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:44.710 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And how it really helped to spotlight some of the projects.
119 00:12:44.710 --> 00:12:57.759 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: across the Forest of Dean, of which I learnt there was so much going on around water, from improving rivers and watercourses, natural flood management, helping to restore natural functions and support wildlife.
120 00:12:57.760 --> 00:13:18.120 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: water quality and flood resilience. So, it's such a big topic that, the more I dug into it, the more I realized, wow, there's actually so much happening, that I wasn't even aware of, and really learned how much this topic meant to people as well, and it really is a unifying topic across all of our residents.
121 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:37.100 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: and brings together, you know, fishermen, people who want… like to swim in the rivers, people are concerned, about oceans, and it really is a unifying issue, more than any other issue I've, dealt with in the kind of climate team at the Council, so…
122 00:13:37.130 --> 00:13:53.960 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It was really exciting to be able to work, on this and have a specific week that really captivated and, and catalyzed all of that action, and was a chance to share so much information, and get lots more engagement with some of these projects.
123 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:18.770 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So water, as I'm sure you're all aware, it really is the lifeblood of this planet. And I'll quickly start by introducing why I'm so passionate about water. And before that kind of came from my previous role, before this job, I was working in Japan, in Okinawa, with a charity called Churamura, which is a turtle conservation charity in
124 00:14:18.770 --> 00:14:22.769 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: the Yomitan Peninsula in, Okinawa.
125 00:14:22.900 --> 00:14:28.120 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And I was running summer camps for young people all around marine conservation.
126 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:44.950 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And it was there that I witnessed how marine environments are some of the most fragile ecosystems in the world. I was volunteering at a coral farm where we were trying to develop bleach-resistant coral and propagating it back into an area of desertified, reef.
127 00:14:44.950 --> 00:14:46.809 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And trying to rebuild that.
128 00:14:47.040 --> 00:15:03.329 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And I learned recently that, we have passed the first planetary tipping point, set out in the Global Tipping Points report, which is, around coral reefs. And this is a massive wake-up call, and yeah, I saw that firsthand, how
129 00:15:03.330 --> 00:15:16.679 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Rising sea temperatures are causing that bleaching of coral and the knock-on effects of the whole ecosystem, including the turtles, which we were specifically, protecting and looking at that summer.
130 00:15:16.880 --> 00:15:28.359 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So that really made me motivated to, continue my work in climate action, and made me so passionate about how we can protect this environment,
131 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:48.669 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And I got this role at FIDDC, and I've brought a lot of that passion into the role. So earlier on this year, I ran a Marine Climate Action Day for Huntley Primary School as part of the EcoSchools program, and I was exploring how inland communities are so connected to ocean health still,
132 00:15:48.700 --> 00:16:08.140 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It's not just those living right by the sea that have that connection and have that responsibility to oceans. We know that what happens in our inline communities and our rivers and how we protect that has such a massive impact on our ocean health, so local issues really do have a global impact.
133 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:33.160 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, on that day, I was running, trash-free sea creature artwork and creative writing, posters, creating plastic pledges, and this really captured the imagination of those schoolchildren who were so, so excited, and at lunchtime, they all ran off to collect litter and tell me about what they'd picked up, and tell me about how much they loved, the interactions they'd had with water.
134 00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:37.780 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: In their lifetime, whether that be snorkeling or swimming in local rivers and…
135 00:16:37.790 --> 00:16:51.540 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: and their favourite sea creature animals as well, so it really showed that this is such a unifying kind of issue for… especially for young people who get this more than a lot of, older generation that I've spoke to.
136 00:16:51.770 --> 00:17:08.549 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I had the opportunity to go to the Blue Earth Summit in October, as part of the work around, the, our Earth Week, and here I spoke to some incredible people,
137 00:17:08.550 --> 00:17:15.199 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: If you don't know, the Blue Earth Summit is a global three-day gathering that unites entrepreneurs, investors, and changemakers
138 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:31.659 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: to accelerate regenerative, climate-positive solutions. And it was just incredible there to see how much action is taking place, and that gave me so much hope, despite those grim predictions that came out that morning about the first tipping point being reached around,
139 00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:44.150 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Coral reefs. I learned there how… just how important oceans are, so they cover 70% of the planet, they're a carbon sink, a flood defense, a food source for billions of people, a recreation space.
140 00:17:44.150 --> 00:17:58.630 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Home to most life on Earth, and the source of every second breath we take. So, if that's not enough of a reason to kind of get behind, work and support around oceans and water, then I don't know what is.
141 00:17:58.730 --> 00:18:21.849 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: on that day, I was collecting voice clips, for my Our Earth Week, radio show takeover of the local Dean radio station, and I managed to speak to Chris Packham after his talk, which was so inspiring, and he gave me such a perfect little quote that, really just gave me goosebumps. So he said in his voice message to me.
142 00:18:21.850 --> 00:18:31.510 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: around our Earth Week, that we're doing untold damage to our one and only home, and we have to rectify that. That sounds like a massive issue, and when you tell many people, they think.
143 00:18:31.510 --> 00:18:41.169 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Well, what can I possibly do? I'm just a drop in the ocean. But you're not just a drop in the ocean, because what is an ocean but a multitude of drops? We can all make a positive difference.
144 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:58.450 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So that really stuck with me, is that you hear that phrase being used in a real negative context of, oh, I'm just a drop in the ocean, but it's so true. An ocean comes from a collection of drops, which creates a puddle, which then runs into a stream, which runs into a river, which then runs into an ocean, so…
145 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:06.529 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And that ocean of change is what we really need, so we need every single person to be that drop in an ocean and create a positive difference.
146 00:19:06.750 --> 00:19:21.550 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, that was one of my biggest takeaways, and really that we all have such an impact to make. And that was something fantastic to see around our Earth Week, is just all of these people that are making such a change.
147 00:19:21.660 --> 00:19:40.240 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So we heard from national and global campaigners for water, there, but I also was able to collect lots of voice messages from local advocates and local projects that are going on in the Forest of Dean, as well, which was… I was able to share through our Earth Week.
148 00:19:40.280 --> 00:19:54.530 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And one of these, was a project from Queering the Y. So, earlier on in the year, I was involved with a project with the LGBTQIA plus community, and we created a community climate action plan.
149 00:19:54.530 --> 00:20:01.810 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And one of the actions that came out of that was a project around water and wellbeing. And…
150 00:20:01.810 --> 00:20:07.469 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I was able to record a clip of, Sean, who was the founder of Queer Swims.
151 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:20.209 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Who talks about how this, how access to clean, safe, and inclusive blue spaces really supports mental health and belonging, and how important, that is for
152 00:20:20.320 --> 00:20:33.909 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: our sense of well-being. And that's something I've experienced myself. I'm an avid wild swimmer. It's something that brings me more, kind of, calm and,
153 00:20:33.910 --> 00:20:42.469 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: and perspective, I think, than anything else, that kind of submersion in cold water, and being outdoors, being really
154 00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:46.910 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Like, submerged or in… in a… in a nature environment, so…
155 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:55.139 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It was so wonderful to see that that was a project that came out of, of that project… of that, whole… whole initiative.
156 00:20:55.980 --> 00:21:06.109 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Then, we also heard from campaigners from Save the Y. Rachel Bonford spoke so beautifully about her connection to,
157 00:21:06.110 --> 00:21:20.350 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: the river why and why it's so important to her. My co-host on Dean Radio, from Dean Radio, Jane, did an interview with Lee Day Solicitors, who are, the solicitors…
158 00:21:20.350 --> 00:21:29.189 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: solicitors taking Welsh Water and Avara Foods, to court over the river pollution around, the River Y.
159 00:21:29.470 --> 00:21:36.879 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, that was really interesting to hear, their perspective and why that's happening, and what's led to it.
160 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:55.720 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: We also were able to talk about ways that local people, can get involved in, citizen science projects, and the opportunities that there are there. So, Friends of the Riverwai have lots of opportunities, to get involved in water quality testing,
161 00:21:55.820 --> 00:22:05.629 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And they've got, yeah, a list of ways that you can get involved in other water projects, on the Rivers Trust as well.
162 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:17.129 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: One way that you can get involved, is as a runoff reporter. So, we know that soil runoffs from fields, into roads and rivers is a major form of pollution.
163 00:22:17.130 --> 00:22:28.660 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And according to recent figures, runoff contributes to over 80% of pollution in the River Y. So observations around where runoff is taking place is a massive,
164 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:41.060 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Way that local people can engage in little micro-volunteering opportunities, to get connected and feel an engagement, and feel like they're able to do something about this.
165 00:22:41.060 --> 00:22:50.259 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: We know that the best way to combat climate anxiety is through action, so if there's lots of these ways that we can point people to get involved,
166 00:22:50.280 --> 00:23:09.490 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: in making a difference, it also really supports their own, feeling of… of purpose, and of, being able to do something, and not just feeling stuck in kind of a, a fear and a… a… yeah, a response that they're out… they don't have any control in the situation.
167 00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:26.250 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I've also got involved in my local, water quality testing initiatives, with Conan River Bathers. So they created, an amazing film. If you haven't seen it, I'd really recommend it, Ray Von for the Avon. And…
168 00:23:26.250 --> 00:23:41.639 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: one of my friends, Mrs. Meg Avon, who Married the river, also provided a fantastic, voice message clip around why she did that, and how using art and a completely different advocacy,
169 00:23:41.670 --> 00:23:49.799 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It was such an effective way of getting people engaged in, in river conservation.
170 00:23:49.910 --> 00:24:06.710 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So I've been involved with testing the River Avon, which is a project funded by Surface Against Sewage, and it's been amazing to see just how that, river, again, draws so many different groups together and, and…
171 00:24:06.710 --> 00:24:12.379 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Really is just an epicentre of the community, and means so much to people in different ways.
172 00:24:13.530 --> 00:24:29.150 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: We also looked at, during our Earth Week, water conservation, and worked with different, youth groups on what communities and individuals can do around water conservation. So, I went to Ruadine Youth Club
173 00:24:29.320 --> 00:24:43.979 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And spoke to them, and got them to talk about what they'd learned from a seven, Seven Rivers Trust workshop, around saving water and slowing water down.
174 00:24:43.980 --> 00:24:53.000 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And what that meant to them. And they also provided some really, beautiful thoughts around… their thoughts around water pollution.
175 00:24:53.090 --> 00:24:56.559 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And ideas of how people can save water as well.
176 00:24:56.990 --> 00:25:05.089 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: We also learnt, around the work that Sumtery, who are one of our biggest, employers, and one of the biggest
177 00:25:05.270 --> 00:25:15.300 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: users of water in the district, what they're doing to conserve water. And they talked about their new internal campaign around every drop counts.
178 00:25:15.300 --> 00:25:28.729 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And we learnt that they have two boreholes on site, to not put pressure on local water usage. But they also have got some big goals of reducing their water usage,
179 00:25:28.830 --> 00:25:39.970 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So that's really great to see how, yeah, one of the biggest, kind of, players, biggest employers, and most significant, kind of, users of water are really thinking about their water usage.
180 00:25:40.090 --> 00:25:41.250 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: 2.
181 00:25:41.330 --> 00:25:57.209 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: We also did some digging around what we're doing as a council, and I put out a newsletter on the same theme around, water, and, shared around an initiative of rainwater harvesting in the toilet blocks.
182 00:25:57.210 --> 00:26:04.300 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So the, 3 different toilet blocks in 3 of our, towns.
183 00:26:04.310 --> 00:26:09.820 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: have been, they've had water harvesting tanks added as part of improvement works.
184 00:26:09.990 --> 00:26:21.179 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And this is all around, working towards resilience, in terms of future use, and we know that that's not going to be hugely,
185 00:26:21.300 --> 00:26:38.070 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: impactful, but it's a start. I'm really thinking about whenever we do improvement works on facilities, how can we make positive improvements to those in terms of, yeah, climate and water, and really think about that in every kind of decision-making process.
186 00:26:39.570 --> 00:26:59.229 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I also did some reflection on how one of our biggest engagement, pieces of work really highlighted water as being an issue that residents really care about. So over the summer, we ran a citizen visioning project with, a organization called Involve, who are climate engagement specialists.
187 00:26:59.250 --> 00:27:10.419 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And, using the process of sortition, we got a representative sample of 19 participants, who came up with a vision, a future vision for Coulford, for their town.
188 00:27:10.570 --> 00:27:28.090 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And came up with 9 recommendations independently, having listened to, experts talking about, different climate issues, and then they formed their own ideas of what they'd like to see happen in the future. And it was really encouraging to see that water management was one of their top priorities.
189 00:27:28.090 --> 00:27:47.689 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And this was around flood risk, but also about drought and conserving water. So they are keen to see water butts provided, to see more education, around efficient use of water, and also to, see less leaks.
190 00:27:47.690 --> 00:27:49.020 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: from…
191 00:27:49.080 --> 00:28:02.750 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: the water companies. So, again, really interesting to see that this is something that our residents really care about, and that backs up some of the work that, yeah, we're doing to focus on water as an issue.
192 00:28:02.930 --> 00:28:04.290 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: in the district.
193 00:28:04.730 --> 00:28:11.729 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Flood preparedness and nature-based solutions are incredibly important to people,
194 00:28:11.730 --> 00:28:27.339 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: this time last year, we saw some terrible flooding in Lidney, which affected many, many hundreds of people and businesses, some of which still haven't managed to reopen after devastating floods from almost a year ago.
195 00:28:27.490 --> 00:28:40.609 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: We also saw flooding in Monmouth just a couple of weeks ago after a major incident was declared following Storm Claudia, and that caused the River Mono to reach record levels, submerging homes and businesses.
196 00:28:40.620 --> 00:28:50.719 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And I saw some of our local campaigners involved in Save the Y live streaming, this disaster on social media in the middle of the night, and
197 00:28:50.720 --> 00:29:00.859 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: it really made my brain go to, a viral tweet that was circling earlier this year, which came off… came out off the back of the Los Angeles wildfires.
198 00:29:00.860 --> 00:29:11.379 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And that was that climate change will manifest itself as a series of disasters, viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to home until you live
199 00:29:11.590 --> 00:29:14.439 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Until you are the one filming it.
200 00:29:14.450 --> 00:29:27.460 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And when I was watching this happening on a Saturday morning on social media, someone I know recording their high street that was completely underwater, cars floating downstream, someone trapped in an alleyway.
201 00:29:27.470 --> 00:29:39.020 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: it really felt like that, that this… the climate crisis has reached our doorstep now in the form of flooding. We're seeing how hundreds of people have already lost their lives in Indonesia,
202 00:29:39.070 --> 00:29:46.510 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: it's not just an issue that's happening on the other side of the world, it is happening here and now in our communities. And so…
203 00:29:46.620 --> 00:29:59.619 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: this is… this is why I think flooding is really kind of top of people's, mind, in terms of… of terms of issues that we need to focus on. So preparing for heavy rainfall and flooding.
204 00:29:59.770 --> 00:30:13.850 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And, as part of climate adaptation and resilience planning. So, we have done a lot of work around this in the last year. I ran a climate adaptation workshop for town and parish councils, and we launched a
205 00:30:13.850 --> 00:30:27.550 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Town and Parish Council Climate Adaptation Fund, which has just recently closed, and we had, about 5 applications, and one of them was around tackling flooding,
206 00:30:27.710 --> 00:30:41.449 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: In the town center. So, we're really looking and trying to educate, and upskill, our town and parish councillors to understand how this is such
207 00:30:41.650 --> 00:30:54.600 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: a pressing issue, and to understand what they can do, where to look for for funding, and also inspire them of some amazing projects that are out there, that they can kind of take advantage of and,
208 00:30:54.640 --> 00:31:08.010 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: and copy. There's a great project that took place in Cinderford that was work done by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, to put in, local SUDs, so Sustainable
209 00:31:08.010 --> 00:31:19.339 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: urban drainage systems, and there's a beautiful mural that's, outside where these suds are, and I went to visit them, and did some
210 00:31:19.490 --> 00:31:29.659 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: kind of journalism, I guess, around those SUDs as part of our Earth Week. And if you haven't looked into SUDs before, it's really interesting. There's kind of…
211 00:31:29.860 --> 00:31:45.209 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Guttering that's attached to a building that then, drains into a series of, like, planters, which have different layers of, materials that slow down,
212 00:31:45.310 --> 00:31:54.480 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: water and absorb it, so some kind of small, really aerated, like, rock materials, and then different layers of sand and,
213 00:31:54.950 --> 00:31:57.509 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And soil, and then your…
214 00:31:57.660 --> 00:32:04.309 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: plants on top to create a bit of, like, a wetland garden. And they look really, effective, and part of
215 00:32:04.390 --> 00:32:23.429 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: greening and beautifying, areas. So, look to how we can bring in more, initiatives like that to slow down, water, and then look at, kind of, things like depaving initiatives to, again, slow water down from reaching storm, drains. So there's lots and lots of
216 00:32:23.830 --> 00:32:43.629 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: schemes that you can look into, and try and fund. So, we're looking at how we can support work like that going forwards and, both adapt to future climate, impacts at the same time as, doing work around mitigation, because we know that both of those now have to be done at the same time.
217 00:32:44.540 --> 00:32:49.930 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, as well as those kind of solutions, there's
218 00:32:50.010 --> 00:33:01.720 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: nature-based solutions, that are taking place. I was really lucky enough to go to the NEP Rewilding Estate and talk to their, chief ecologist, Mattie Phelps, about
219 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:11.890 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: what NEP are doing around, water. If you haven't heard of NEP, you must check out the film and book called Wilding. It's a flagship
220 00:33:12.010 --> 00:33:18.829 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: project around rewilding in the UK, where a 4,000-acre dairy farm was rewilded,
221 00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:31.860 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: into… and giving back to nature, and it's just a fantastic project. And they're doing so much around water on site, so, like, re-wiggling, streams and, and watercourses.
222 00:33:31.860 --> 00:33:41.760 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And, they've got a beaver project there, which is awesome, and so they're just waiting on a license, from Natural England before they're able to release
223 00:33:41.770 --> 00:33:59.320 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: their beavers, of which they have now six, I believe, in an enclosure, and there's already evidence of how much, benefit they've had, and they can create millions of pounds, worth of, flood, kind of, defences
224 00:33:59.320 --> 00:34:11.779 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: in an incredibly short space of time, in a matter of weeks, what… in terms of comparatively, what have cost millions of pounds over years. So they really are, like, the kind of…
225 00:34:12.040 --> 00:34:14.889 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Peak king of, of natural,
226 00:34:14.929 --> 00:34:34.320 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: kind of flood management, and we also know… we also know, there is a beaver project taking place in the Forest of Dean as well, which is really exciting. So, since, yeah, learning about what's happening in NEP, I've looked into what's going on in the Forest of Dean, more as well.
227 00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:49.969 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And learned that beavers are ecosystem engineers, and they work to slow down the flow of water using their dams during heavy rainfall, and then they release it slowly during the dry periods, so it reduces ecological impacts of drought.
228 00:34:49.969 --> 00:34:57.029 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: They also create larger areas of wetlands. And one of the things that the,
229 00:34:57.030 --> 00:35:10.689 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: ecologist told me was that if you want to increase biodiversity, just add water. It's the most effective, quickest way to increase biodiversity. So, that applies to your garden as well, or, an area of
230 00:35:10.950 --> 00:35:14.290 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: You know, green space at your work's… workplace.
231 00:35:14.290 --> 00:35:34.090 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I did the same in my garden after I learned this. I just added… I've got a very small garden, but, dug into the ground, a bucket, kind of, just this big kind of thing. And yeah, I found some pondweed from another local pond that I put in it, and just seeing how much life there is, if you just study it for 5 minutes, you'll see there's…
232 00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:50.829 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: hundreds of different little… couldn't even tell you what, creatures and, and forms of life and frogs and stuff that be… get drawn to that, so that's something to take away. Doesn't matter how big it is, but just adding water is such a key, way to increase biodiversity.
233 00:35:51.040 --> 00:36:02.369 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And yeah, so here in the Forest of Dean, Forestry England and Natural England are working together with experts at the Beaver Trust to introduce beavers, within enclosures.
234 00:36:02.370 --> 00:36:19.399 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: They've been monitoring changes that take place, as a result of, the beavers' work, changes to biodiversity, habitats, water quality, and flow rates. And then they'll be looking, there's studies being done about where they might, try and introduce them in the future.
235 00:36:19.590 --> 00:36:41.319 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And if you do want to come and visit the Forest of Dina if you're in the area, and you want to try and take a look at them, the enclosure is just off a popular walking route, called Spruce Ride, and near the Colliers Cycle Trail. And winter is a very good time to try and see them, because, like, leaves have all fallen off the trees, so you can sneak a peek at them a bit easier.
236 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:50.829 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So yeah, do come and see if you can get a glimpse of them, and you can see some of the habitat changes in the enclosure, that they've already contributed to.
237 00:36:51.040 --> 00:37:02.159 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, really, really interesting, and really cool to see that, these reintroduction projects are, happening all over the country now, because,
238 00:37:02.310 --> 00:37:18.870 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: institutions can see the value of, beavers and just how much, they can benefit, our wildlife, our biodiversity, but also, our towns and cities as a result by, reducing flood impacts.
239 00:37:19.170 --> 00:37:21.400 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, yeah, power to the beavers.
240 00:37:21.600 --> 00:37:29.570 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, that's just a kind of whistle-stop tour of all of the, projects that I've, kind of.
241 00:37:29.820 --> 00:37:44.779 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: highlighted as part of our Earth Week, that are taking place across the Forest of Dean. But I want to leave you with, the thought that water really does connect us all. It's a thread linking life, community, and climate.
242 00:37:44.780 --> 00:37:55.770 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And there's so many ways that we can take action around water, so I'm sure lots of the work that you're doing is around water, but in your individual lives, or,
243 00:37:55.770 --> 00:38:10.230 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: You can build ponds and mini wetlands, as I mentioned, harvest rainwater, reduce home water usage, reduce fish consumption, reduce single-use plastics, join boycotts of, things like non-biodegradable wet wipes.
244 00:38:10.230 --> 00:38:23.270 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Support river cleanups in your community, and getting involved in monitoring groups, and simply sharing the work of other groups, and individuals across the country and across the world.
245 00:38:23.270 --> 00:38:34.370 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So there really is so much you can do, and if you ever hear people saying, what can I do, I'm just one person, I don't know where to start, really try and list off some of those ways, because everyone has
246 00:38:34.370 --> 00:38:47.980 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: such, a potential to create such a positive impact, and we all have responsibility for acting, on climate to protect our, our environment, but also,
247 00:38:47.980 --> 00:38:51.079 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Ourselves and, and people, planet.
248 00:38:51.080 --> 00:39:01.550 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So I hope that's been interesting. If you've got any questions, I'm more than happy to, yeah, to answer. I've also got an incredibly large,
249 00:39:01.730 --> 00:39:21.480 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: resource library of all of these voice messages that I've, collected from national, global, and local campaigners and advocates. So, if you do want access to those, I might have to try and just get permissions first, but I'm sure everyone will be happy to, for me to share that, and then you can use them
250 00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:23.290 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: If you're,
251 00:39:23.290 --> 00:39:38.149 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: doing your own talks or, engagement work around water, we can help spread the word and make sure that we're all thinking about water, not just in these weeks, like our Earth Week, but it's something that we think about throughout the year.
252 00:39:39.070 --> 00:39:40.480 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Thank you very much.
253 00:39:41.020 --> 00:39:42.100 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Wow.
254 00:39:42.160 --> 00:39:51.539 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Well done, Katie. That was, probably the only time I've gone through a thousand topics in one half-hour period. So…
255 00:39:51.540 --> 00:40:15.690 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: To reassure everybody, we are recording this, and Zoom will break down everything you've said into a list of items and clues and links, and we'll try and work with you to get people's questions answered, because I'm sure there are going to be plenty of them. But thank you so much for that. It was really reassuring to hear what people are up to. I would draw your attention to a couple of questions in the chat.
256 00:40:15.690 --> 00:40:23.930 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: If you've not seen them yet, and also, Stuart is first off the mark to ask you a question, so let's give it to Stuart, please.
257 00:40:23.930 --> 00:40:24.540 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Mmm.
258 00:40:24.540 --> 00:40:28.330 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Hi, I'd just like to say thanks very much.
259 00:40:28.860 --> 00:40:32.979 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: As Graham said, you covered a hell of a lot of,
260 00:40:33.990 --> 00:40:39.559 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: topics there, what relates to water. And I quite agree with you. I've,
261 00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:42.349 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Now done a water literacy course.
262 00:40:42.640 --> 00:40:46.550 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Which I didn't know existed before I did it.
263 00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:47.760 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: with.
264 00:40:48.310 --> 00:40:50.579 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: It's similar to the carbon literacy.
265 00:40:50.890 --> 00:40:51.480 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah.
266 00:40:51.670 --> 00:40:56.640 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: But one of the main things they teach you is water conservation.
267 00:40:56.820 --> 00:40:58.810 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: How much we waste water.
268 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:03.009 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And how much, embedded water there is in…
269 00:41:03.010 --> 00:41:05.020 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Everything we, buy.
270 00:41:05.290 --> 00:41:05.990 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yes.
271 00:41:07.020 --> 00:41:12.819 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I'd just like to make one comment, and that was on your list of things the ocean does for us.
272 00:41:13.100 --> 00:41:17.350 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah. You didn't say it acts as a thermal buffer.
273 00:41:17.680 --> 00:41:26.700 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: And has, in fact, absorbed over half of the excess heating, which has been induced by climate change.
274 00:41:27.480 --> 00:41:28.810 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Wow, yeah.
275 00:41:29.100 --> 00:41:31.170 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: And I also…
276 00:41:31.630 --> 00:41:38.110 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I'd like to ask you about… there was quite a big bit in The Guardian, either yesterday or day before.
277 00:41:38.370 --> 00:41:42.310 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: About how we are actually going to run out of fresh water.
278 00:41:42.660 --> 00:41:43.580 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yep.
279 00:41:43.860 --> 00:41:48.530 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: 2030 seems to be…
280 00:41:49.120 --> 00:41:56.889 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: A point that we're getting towards, where we're going to be something like 50 billion liters a day short of water.
281 00:41:57.550 --> 00:41:59.079 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Some enormous amounts.
282 00:41:59.520 --> 00:42:05.780 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Anyway, thank you very much for that, that was great, and as somebody put in the chat.
283 00:42:06.030 --> 00:42:08.660 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Would you be able to circulate your newsletters?
284 00:42:09.090 --> 00:42:23.909 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah, absolutely! Yeah, I'd love to, especially, yeah, the last one, which was on water and has, yeah, lots of information, and also has, the link to the radio show that I did, if you want to listen, back to that, and it has some of those voice clips in it.
285 00:42:23.910 --> 00:42:30.289 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, yeah, I'll do that. I'll send that… maybe I'll send that to Graham, along with some…
286 00:42:30.290 --> 00:42:32.739 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: in the naughty Straits, maybe I'll be able to pick it up.
287 00:42:33.070 --> 00:42:35.739 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah, perfect. Yeah, that sounds great, thank you.
288 00:42:35.740 --> 00:42:44.570 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: You've got plenty of questions, in the chat, speaking about how can people see the beavers, and then follow up on some of the links that you suggested.
289 00:42:44.570 --> 00:42:47.650 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yes, yeah, I don't know about…
290 00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:57.470 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: dominant soil type, I'm afraid. I'm definitely not an expert in that. In the upper parrot runoff, countries, very little, unless you classified leap.
291 00:42:58.280 --> 00:42:59.110 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I've seen this last week.
292 00:42:59.380 --> 00:43:07.569 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Okay, interesting. Yeah, I… I don't know the answer to… to that question, but I know that we had a,
293 00:43:08.380 --> 00:43:13.329 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: an event recently that was called Water in Our Forest, and we had.
294 00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:28.960 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Forestry England and the Environment Agency, talking there, and they talked a lot about the geology of the Forest of Dean and how that, contributes to things like runoff, and… and issues around water. So.
295 00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:46.810 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: there's people that I could ask, that question off if you're interested. I'll make a note of that, but yeah, not… not an expert on… well, not an expert on any of this, really, just, someone that's very passionate. The only thing I'm really an expert on is turtles, but…
296 00:43:47.100 --> 00:43:48.080 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Bye.
297 00:43:48.160 --> 00:43:59.470 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah, I'm very much a generalist and an enthusiastic supporter, and a connector of everyone together, I think. Location of the beavers, I'll…
298 00:43:59.750 --> 00:44:03.520 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: put that in the chat. Yeah, so that's…
299 00:44:04.600 --> 00:44:14.490 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: just off the Colliers Bike Trail. There's a link here that you can… Find them.
300 00:44:15.260 --> 00:44:22.189 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And then… yeah, newsletter, I will get the link for.
301 00:44:23.600 --> 00:44:26.390 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Water Industry National Environment Programme.
302 00:44:26.970 --> 00:44:29.900 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Oh, that's cool. Learning about…
303 00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:30.580 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: That one.
304 00:44:31.080 --> 00:44:32.710 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Looking for collaboration.
305 00:44:33.610 --> 00:44:37.360 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Oh, that's fabulous. And would…
306 00:44:37.810 --> 00:44:41.560 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: The water literacy training sounds really interesting,
307 00:44:42.170 --> 00:44:46.010 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Councillor Stewart, would you be able to put a link,
308 00:44:46.350 --> 00:44:52.610 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: To that at all, because that would be really great to share, with our councillors.
309 00:44:54.870 --> 00:44:57.409 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Stuart, do you happen to have that data available?
310 00:45:03.360 --> 00:45:05.370 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Busy investigating already.
311 00:45:07.350 --> 00:45:08.680 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: You're on mute, Stuart.
312 00:45:14.020 --> 00:45:21.689 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I don't have a link at the moment, but I'll see if I can find it, but I think it was organised by Groundwork East.
313 00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:27.080 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Partly funded by… I've got a feeling it's Northumberland water.
314 00:45:27.950 --> 00:45:29.230 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Okay.
315 00:45:29.420 --> 00:45:30.260 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Okay, good.
316 00:45:35.120 --> 00:45:39.930 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Awesome. And Coldford System Visioning, Sandra, yeah.
317 00:45:40.140 --> 00:45:43.570 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: What would you… what would you like to know more about that?
318 00:45:43.570 --> 00:45:45.719 Sandra Reeve River Char: Yeah, I just didn't… sorry.
319 00:45:46.070 --> 00:45:47.170 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Let it go, go on, sorry.
320 00:45:47.170 --> 00:45:53.290 Sandra Reeve River Char: I just didn't quite catch, A, I was wondering if the council had funded it, and…
321 00:45:53.740 --> 00:46:04.850 Sandra Reeve River Char: be… I think you said MBOLD, that you… so that you brought… I'm just interested in the practicalities of how it happened, and then how… how you selected, or the… how it was sole selected, the people that came.
322 00:46:05.020 --> 00:46:24.439 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah, yeah, so it was, funded through Innovate UK, so it wasn't directly funded by the Council, yeah, it was Innovate UK funding, through the Fast Followers Program, if you're aware of that. So…
323 00:46:25.270 --> 00:46:31.299 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: it… and then we worked with Involve, who are, climate engagement specialists.
324 00:46:31.300 --> 00:46:31.760 Sandra Reeve River Char: Oh, man.
325 00:46:31.760 --> 00:46:45.259 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And they did the think tank around, the big piece of work, across the country around getting people's thoughts around, climate, and they did a big, like, the YouTube,
326 00:46:45.350 --> 00:46:54.619 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: well, there was a TV show that aired around it. They're amazing, really, really, if anyone has the opportunity to involve, they're fabulous. And then through…
327 00:46:54.710 --> 00:47:08.310 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: with Involve, they partner with the Sortition Foundation, who do that, getting a representative, like, citizen's jury. So, to do that, we… they sent… they… they…
328 00:47:08.440 --> 00:47:11.219 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: I took, took all of that in-house.
329 00:47:11.240 --> 00:47:19.710 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And they sent out letters to every single person in the town, inviting them to apply.
330 00:47:19.710 --> 00:47:34.879 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And then, in a questionnaire, they had to complete a questionnaire, which included their, kind of, socioeconomic background, their thoughts around climate change, their civic engagement, their age, their…
331 00:47:34.890 --> 00:47:38.039 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Whereabouts they lived, all of that data, and then…
332 00:47:38.260 --> 00:47:39.889 Sandra Reeve River Char: That was…
333 00:47:39.970 --> 00:47:46.760 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: They did something clever with that, and then basically looked at the,
334 00:47:46.900 --> 00:47:54.819 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: the representation of Colford as a place, and then they got a representative sample of people.
335 00:47:54.820 --> 00:47:55.210 Sandra Reeve River Char: Yes.
336 00:47:55.210 --> 00:48:01.189 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: that represented the makeup of Calford, but that was kind of equal of, like.
337 00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:11.740 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Equal spread of, like, men and women and, like, you know, all of those different factors that we, looked at in the questionnaire were… were represented.
338 00:48:11.740 --> 00:48:31.560 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So it wasn't the idea of that, and which is, I think, one of the biggest successes of that project, that it wasn't just the usual suspects. Yeah. So it was really working with people that had never been involved in any climate, work before. But the advantage was that they were paid for their time, and
339 00:48:31.560 --> 00:48:33.000 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: That's what…
340 00:48:33.000 --> 00:48:34.839 Sandra Reeve River Char: Sorry, the participants were paid…
341 00:48:34.840 --> 00:48:48.140 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Participants were paid for their time and their expenses, childcare, travel, everything, and they were fed and everything. So that, I think, was how we were able to get such a…
342 00:48:48.160 --> 00:49:07.500 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: yeah, a representative view, and reach people that hadn't been involved before. And then we also didn't put climate at the center of the question. We had a bit of a Trojan horse, so the question they were asked was around, how do we create a fair and happy Colford whilst responding to the
343 00:49:07.500 --> 00:49:12.360 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: challenges of climate change. So it was… happiness and fairness was
344 00:49:12.380 --> 00:49:14.769 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: The… the thing that we're focused on.
345 00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:30.680 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: and then responding to climate change, was, like, how we did it. So, really bringing in that kind of co-benefits piece to climate… to climate action, which was… we've adopted as our way of working around climate in the Forest of Dean, because
346 00:49:30.680 --> 00:49:38.869 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It is an area that has a lot of, indices of multiple deprivation. There's a lot of, reasons why people can't
347 00:49:39.320 --> 00:49:55.270 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: kind of have climate as top of their priority list, because they've got to focus on, you know, putting food on the table, and paying the bills, and really struggling cost of living crises, and mental health and well-being, and so, really.
348 00:49:55.440 --> 00:50:02.880 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Not focusing on climate at the forefront has been really beneficial, and actually bringing nature and climate together
349 00:50:03.280 --> 00:50:17.720 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And water is involved in that, because nature and water and all those things are so much less politicized, unfortunately, now than climate is, it's meant that we've got a lot more engagement, and people are a lot more.
350 00:50:17.720 --> 00:50:25.160 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Able to see how it affects them, and how it's a local issue, rather than an abstract kind of global issue of…
351 00:50:25.220 --> 00:50:30.249 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: You know, a polar bear being sad because it's ice caps smelling.
352 00:50:30.250 --> 00:50:30.780 Sandra Reeve River Char: Okay.
353 00:50:30.780 --> 00:50:38.170 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, it… it really is… it's close to home, it's like, people are able to actually, yeah, really engage with it, so…
354 00:50:38.300 --> 00:50:41.890 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It was a really fantastic project, actually.
355 00:50:41.890 --> 00:50:45.530 Sandra Reeve River Char: It's amazing in terms of community engagement, because that's kind of what we really.
356 00:50:45.530 --> 00:50:46.050 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: struggle.
357 00:50:46.050 --> 00:50:47.120 Sandra Reeve River Char: with still.
358 00:50:48.790 --> 00:50:52.200 Sandra Reeve River Char: And could you just say the name of the people who did the…
359 00:50:52.200 --> 00:50:53.480 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah, that goes.
360 00:50:53.480 --> 00:50:54.540 Sandra Reeve River Char: together.
361 00:50:54.540 --> 00:50:57.730 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: They're called… oh, the Sortician Foundation, and then involve.
362 00:50:57.730 --> 00:50:59.190 Sandra Reeve River Char: Right.
363 00:50:59.190 --> 00:51:17.810 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Wattition Foundation. I can send you the, I can send everyone the final report, if you're interested, that talks about the process, talks about how it happened, and the recommendations. Yeah, I'm more than happy to kind of, yeah, give more information. The only thing is.
364 00:51:17.810 --> 00:51:25.190 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: On the other positive of it is that we got the town and the district council to agree that
365 00:51:25.190 --> 00:51:29.319 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: To act on the recommendations that come out of it before.
366 00:51:29.320 --> 00:51:48.569 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, not to agree to take everything forwards and promise that they can do everything, but at least agree to acknowledge, and where they can't do something, say why, and then signpost to different people, but to respond, so they acknowledge that they have to respond within 3 months of getting the report. So that's really helped to embed it
367 00:51:48.570 --> 00:51:50.590 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: And actually it not…
368 00:51:50.610 --> 00:52:06.519 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: not just being a kind of talking shop and, like, actually embed what comes out of it into our council plans and policies and action for the future. So I've learned a lot from that piece in terms of what effective engagement looks like and how to really embed what comes out of it.
369 00:52:06.520 --> 00:52:22.980 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: in, yeah, in future projects. The only thing is, now it's almost set a precedent that people get paid for involvement, and I think people should get paid, because they've put a lot of time and, you know, and effort into it, and it's really made me think, how do we remunerate
370 00:52:23.120 --> 00:52:32.100 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: People who get involved in climate and share their thoughts, because we are… we do ask a lot of people, and they really need to be
371 00:52:32.340 --> 00:52:34.090 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: supported if…
372 00:52:34.220 --> 00:52:47.559 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: in order to get a representative sample, otherwise you do just get the same people involved who are really passionate. So yeah, there's lots of learning from that project. I could, yeah, talk to you more about it in the future if you'd like, but…
373 00:52:47.560 --> 00:52:49.490 Sandra Reeve River Char: Thank you, that's really helpful.
374 00:52:49.890 --> 00:52:51.000 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: problem.
375 00:52:51.470 --> 00:52:54.069 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Can we move on to Sue Burton, please?
376 00:52:54.070 --> 00:53:02.970 Sue Burton Battle TC: Yeah, hello. Thank you, Katie. Just a side, really, you mentioned about, making sure that wipes were recyclable.
377 00:53:02.970 --> 00:53:17.130 Sue Burton Battle TC: I wasn't keen on that, because I think all wipes, they should be made of recyclable material, but they are contaminated, and they need to go in the bin, and I…
378 00:53:17.130 --> 00:53:23.619 Sue Burton Battle TC: Don't really think there's an emphasis on whether it is or isn't recyclable, because it's no good.
379 00:53:23.990 --> 00:53:33.280 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yes, that I… just to clarify, I don't mean recycling wet wipes, not at all. No, it's about biodegradable, not recyclable. Does it mean?
380 00:53:33.280 --> 00:53:41.480 Sue Burton Battle TC: Sorry, does it matter if they're not biodegradable if they are going to go in the waste stream, which mainly is incinerated?
381 00:53:42.340 --> 00:53:50.359 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: It does, yeah, it does matter, especially for water, especially for getting, clogged in pipes, and
382 00:53:50.360 --> 00:54:05.009 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: So, there's a really interesting piece of work, and one of the, voice clips I did at the Blue Earth Summit with an organization called Thames21, and they are leading the, campaign around
383 00:54:05.010 --> 00:54:09.500 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Making non-biodegradable wet wipes
384 00:54:09.500 --> 00:54:20.059 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: illegal and banning them. And they've got some fantastic data to back up why, and just how many, non-biodegradable wet wipes are
385 00:54:20.310 --> 00:54:31.110 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: washed up on beaches, and clogging up rivers, and spreading into, you know, millions of microplastics, because of what they're made of. So it's a very…
386 00:54:31.110 --> 00:54:31.770 Sue Burton Battle TC: Yeah.
387 00:54:31.770 --> 00:54:41.930 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: easy, small switch that… that we can make. We shouldn't… they shouldn't be flushed down the toilet anyway, but unfortunately, they are, and… and that's…
388 00:54:42.190 --> 00:54:51.339 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: a way that we can, reduce the impact there, but let… I can send you, yeah, the work that Thames21 are doing around it, and that will be.
389 00:54:51.340 --> 00:54:51.770 Sue Burton Battle TC: Thank you.
390 00:54:51.770 --> 00:54:53.179 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Yeah, so I'm.
391 00:54:53.180 --> 00:54:57.379 Sue Burton Battle TC: Thank you for explaining that. That really makes sense now. Thank you.
392 00:54:57.380 --> 00:54:58.200 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: No problem.
393 00:54:58.200 --> 00:54:58.820 Sue Burton Battle TC: Yeah.
394 00:54:59.450 --> 00:55:03.310 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Is there anybody else who has a question for Katie, please?
395 00:55:03.450 --> 00:55:27.580 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Can I just add to the wet wipes real quick? Because I've just started a role with, Thames Water, and discovered that, we spend about 20 million pounds, unclogging pipes that are impacted, mainly as a result of wet wipes being flushed down the toilet. So even the biodegradable, flushable ones are not, and will continue to add to the problem.
396 00:55:27.580 --> 00:55:29.080 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: But,
397 00:55:29.140 --> 00:55:46.290 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: I think one of the, one of my colleagues pointed out that, their granddaughter was being, you know, was having wet wipes, flushable wet wipes used, and the mother was saying it's really great because you can flush them down the toilet, but it says on the packaging that you flush one wet wipe
398 00:55:46.410 --> 00:55:57.119 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: per toilet flush. So if you think about the water usage involved in that, if you use 3 to wipe a baby's bottom, you know, that's 3 toilet flushes that you've just engaged.
399 00:55:57.120 --> 00:56:02.140 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: You know, I think the real question is, why do we need to use them? And we don't.
400 00:56:02.140 --> 00:56:27.110 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: you know, use toilet paper and, you know, flush that down the toilet, because nothing other than poo, pee and paper and puke should ever go down the toilet. And what could we do with that 20 million pounds if we weren't using it to unplug toilets? We could be using that for river restoration and all of that, so we really need to engage the public, I think. You know, especially for Thames Water, there's a lot
401 00:56:27.110 --> 00:56:36.879 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: of backlash and, you know, negative media. But actually, it comes down to… and I, you know, this is also coming from me as a former, you know, community outreach
402 00:56:36.880 --> 00:57:01.160 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: officer for the Evenload Catchment Partnership. We flush those toilets, we pour stuff down our drains, we pour down meat, grease, and all sorts that adds to these blockages. And if we actually were more aware of our impact individually, then we could make a huge difference on the water quality overall. So that's why I was really interested in knowing more about the water and literacy.
403 00:57:01.160 --> 00:57:07.720 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Because obviously, from Tim's water point of view, we can't go out there and say to people, oh, it's your fault, you know.
404 00:57:07.720 --> 00:57:08.270 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Good evening.
405 00:57:08.270 --> 00:57:15.359 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: Because there is a responsibility within Thames to upgrade their systems and all that, but it needs to really, really
406 00:57:16.780 --> 00:57:23.019 Jennifer Lanham - Catchment Coordinator Thames Water: all have to share that responsibility. So, yeah, I'm really interested in that water literacy course.
407 00:57:23.320 --> 00:57:29.309 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Thank you so much, Jennifer, yeah, said perfectly. That was great, great.
408 00:57:29.990 --> 00:57:30.750 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: to…
409 00:57:30.750 --> 00:57:33.850 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Any other points that people haven't managed to raise yet, please?
410 00:57:35.440 --> 00:57:50.029 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Okay, well, no one's waving or shouting at me that I can see, so… Katie, thank you again for a most reassuring document. It's lovely to hear how many people around the world are taking part in doing something to restore the planet to health.
411 00:57:50.140 --> 00:58:04.600 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: It's very up… uplifting. So, thank you very much indeed, that was wonderful, and we're all grateful to you. Next week, we are doing a further-on discussion, if you will, on…
412 00:58:04.930 --> 00:58:25.319 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Isle of Wight: Rural Flood Resilience Partnership. So, Paul Dixon from ACO is going to come and talk about a lot of the subjects that we talked about today, what you can do about them to make the country more resilient to the needs for water. So, do please join us again this time next week, and in the meantime, thank you all so much, and Katie, thank you very much indeed. Take care.
413 00:58:25.320 --> 00:58:27.200 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Thanks very much.
414 00:58:27.200 --> 00:58:29.150 Sue Burton Battle TC: Katie, bye, bye.
415 00:58:29.280 --> 00:58:30.460 Katie Clubb - FoDDC Speaker on Water: Hello, bye-bye!
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